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Interchurch  World  Movement 

The  Work  of  the  Foreign  Division 
of  the  Survey  Department 

AS  IT  RELATES  TO  THE  MISSIONARY  AGENCIES 


The  Foreign  Survey  Division  of  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement  will  make  a  study  of  the  situation  and  the 
need  in  the  foreign  mission  fields; 

It  will  supply  the  results  of  its  survey  to  the  mission¬ 
ary  agencies  of  the  United  States  and  Canada; 

It  will  assist  these  agencies  in  preparing  plans  com¬ 
mensurate  with  their  responsibilities  for  the  evangeliza¬ 
tion  of  the  world; 

It  will  formulate  a  imited  statement  of  those  plans  for 
the  financial  campaign  of  the  Interchurch  Movement; 

It  will  furnish  the  Editorial  Department  of  the  Move¬ 
ment  with  material  for  the  publicity  of  this  campaign. 


INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT 

of  NORTH  AMERICA 

111  Fifth  Avenue  -  New  York  City 


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The  Missionary  Agencies  and  the 
Foreign  Division  of  the  Survey 

Department 


I.  Services  which  the  Foreign  Division  desires  to  render 

to  the  Missionary  Agencies 

1.  The  chief  service  of  the  Foreign  Survey  Division  will 
be  the  preparation  of  a  statement  of  the  united  program  of 
the  missionary  agencies  for  the  purposes  of  the  Interchurch 
campaign.  It  is  this  statement  which  will  set  before  the  entire 
Christian  community  of  North  America  what  the  missionary 

agencies  need,  in  men,  money,  and  moral  support,  to  fulfill 
their  present  responsibility  for  Christianizing  the  world. 

2.  The  Foreign  Survey  Division  will  furnish  to  each  mis¬ 
sionary  agency,  as  may  be  desired,  the  best  information  it 
can  secure  as  to  geographic,  religious,  and  social  conditions, 
in  each  field. 

3.  The  Foreign  Survey  Division  will  furnish  data  which 
will  be  of  assistance  to  the  missionary  agencies  in  co-ordinat¬ 
ing  their  plans  for  advance  with  the  plans  of  other  missionary 
agencies  for  the  same  fields  by  serving  as  a  clearing  house  for : 

(1)  Information  concerning  evangelistic,  educa¬ 
tional,  medical,  and  other  types  of  missionary  work  useful 
in  perfecting  a  unified  program  for  each  type  of  work  in 
a  given  area; 

(2)  Information  as  to  racial,  language,  and  other 
areas  in  which  the  mission  problem  is  a  distinct  unit,  so 
as  to  enable  each  Board  more  effectively  to  determine  the 
extent  of  its  denominational  responsibility  and  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  its  advance; 

(3)  Geographic  and  supplementary  data  indicating 
the  location  of  the  mission  stations  of  all  other  agencies 
in  adjacent  areas; 


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(4)  Services  of  specialists  expert  in  the  problems 
of  each  of  the  great  mission  fields  and  in  languages, 
literature,  education,  geography,  non-Christian  religions, 
and  other  subjects; 

(5)  Conferences  of  agencies  desiring  to  coordinate 
their  work  more  closely  with  the  work  of  other  agencies. 

4.  The  Foreign  Survey  Division  will  furnish  to  each  mis¬ 
sionary  agency  a  suggested  form  of  program  statement,  in 
order  that  they  may  prepare  their  statements  in  a  unified  man¬ 
ner  for  the  purposes  of  the  campaign. 

5.  The  Foreign  Survey  Division  will  furnish,  for  all 
agencies  desiring  them,  basic  maps  in  order  that  the  repre¬ 
sentation  of  field  conditions  may  be  unified ;  it  will  also  be  glad 
to  serve  as  the  map-making  agency  of  such  agencies  as  do  not 
have  these  facilities. 

It  is  believed  that  the  economy  resulting  from  this  special¬ 
ization  and  centralization  will  make  available  to  the  mission 
boards  information  and  facilities  which  would  be  difficult  or 
impracticable  for  them  to  provide  for  themselves. 


II.  How  the  Foreign  Survey  Division  does  its  work 

The  information  which  the  Foreign  Survey  Division  re¬ 
quires  is  to  be  secured  from  the  following  sources  : 

(1)  Libraries,  reference  bureaus,  etc.,  for  general 
facts  concerning  the  areas  studied. 

(2)  Surveys,  reports  and  other  information  in  the 
possession  of  mission  boards  and  other  agencies. 

(3)  Interviews  with  missionaries  and  other  authori¬ 
ties  residing  in  the  United  States. 

(4)  Investigations  made  by  such  deputations  as  may 
go  to  the  field. 

(5)  Direct  inquiry  by  letter  or  questionnaire  to  mis¬ 
sionaries  on  the  field. 


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For  the  proper  collection  and  classification  of  this  mate¬ 
rial,  the  Foreign  Survey  Division  is  organized  into  three 
branches : 

1.  The  Mission  Agencies  Branch  will  coordinate  and 
direct  all  correspondence  on  survey  matters  with  mission 
agencies.  No  representatives  of  the  Foreign  Division  except 
the  head  of  the  Mission  Agencies  Branch  and  such  persons  as 
he  introduces  will  correspond  with,  or  visit,  the  offices  of  the 
missionary  agencies. 

2.  The  Mission  Fields  Branch  will  be  responsible  for  con¬ 
ducting  the  survey  and  formulating  program  statements  by 
mission  fields. 

3.  The  Coordination  Branch  will  be  responsible  for  co¬ 
ordinating  the  study  of  field  conditions,  and  of  evangelistic, 
educational,  medical  and  other  types  of  missionary  work  as 
they  apply  to  all  fields. 

The  Foreign  Division  of  the  Survey  Department  will  be 
assisted  in  its  work  by  three  divisions,  the  Research,  the  Edi¬ 
torial,  and  the  Statistical  Divisions,  which  will  serve  all  divi¬ 
sions  of  the  Department. 

While  it  would  be  desirable  to  have  complete  statements 
of  field  conditions  and  complete  descriptions  of  all  institutions 
and  work  upon  the  fields,  it  is  manifestly  impossible  to  provide 
such  information  before  the  Interchurch  campaign.  For  this 
reason  it  is  planned  that  the  surveys  will  cover  all  fields  for  a 
limited  range  of  facts  and  that  certain  institutions,  fields,  and 
portions  of  fields  shall  be  treated  intensively  as  samples  of 
missionary  achievement  or  of  field  conditions  which  can  be 
featured  in  the  publicity  program.  The  Foreign  Survey  Divi¬ 
sion  has  already  selected  a  number  of  these  special  cases  and 
will  add  to  the  list  as  the  interests  of  the  participating  agencies 
may  require. 

The  final  step  in  the  survey  process  will  be  the  preparation 
of  program  statements  for  the  campaign.  A  “program  state- 
ment”  is  an  authoritative,  analytical  statement  of  the  objectives 
of  a  missionary  agency  in  a  given  enterprise,  and  of  the  re- 


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sources  in  men  and  money  needed  to  attain  those  objectives. 
Such  program  statements  may  be  made  for  a  single  mission 
station,  for  a  single  institution,  for  work  of  a  given  type,  for 
the  work  of  a  given  denomination,  for  a  given  field,  or  for  the 
entire  foreign  missionary  enterprise  represented  by  the  Inter¬ 
church  Movement.  The  authoritative  character  of  such  a  state¬ 
ment  will  be  derived  from  the  approval  of  it  by  the  missionary 
agencies  concerned. 

III.  What  the  Foreign  Division  wishes  to  avoid 

1.  Any  interference  with  the  natural  authority  of  the 
various  mission  agencies  and  any  impression  that  such  inter¬ 
ference  is  intended. 

The  Foreign  Survey  Division  will  exercise  no  responsi¬ 
bility  for  approving  or  modifying  the  content  of  the  programs 
of  any  of  the  missionary  agencies.  It  nevertheless  hopes  to  be 
of  service  to  all  the  participating  agencies  in  insuring  more 
effective  coordination  of  all  programs,  so  that  the  result  to 
the  mission  field  itself  may  be  the  best  possible.  The  test  of  a 
united  program  is  the  actual  benefit  it  will  render  to  the  field 
which  it  covers. 

Accordingly  the  Foreign  Survey  Division  will  make  report 
to  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Movement  concerning  the 
program  of  each  participating  agency  and  the  relation  of  that 
program  to  other  programs  for  the  field  concerned.  Where- 
ever  for  the  sake  of  the  best  interests  of  the  field,  modifica¬ 
tions  seem  desirable,  the  Foreign  Survey  Division  will  put 
the  situation  before  the  agencies  concerned  for  their  judg¬ 
ment  and  will  make  recommendation  to  the  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee  as  to  the  desirable  course  to  pursue.  The  decision  upon 
such  course  and  upon  any  modifications  of  the  program  will 
be  determined  by  the  Executive  Committee  in  conference  with 
the  agencies  concerned. 

2.  The  Foreign  Survey  Division  is  most  anxious  to  avoid 
all  duplication  of  effort  and  all  confusion  which  might  be 
caused  by  a  variety  of  approaches  to  missionary  agencies  and 


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missionary  personnel.  For  that  reason  it  is  conducting  the 
bulk  of  its  correspondence  with  the  missionary  agencies 
through  a  single  branch  of  the  Division.  It  also  proposes  to 
make  use  so  far  as  possible  of  all  the  information  available  in 
this  country,  sending  no  inquiry  to  the  fields  except  in  so  far 
as  may  be  found  necessary. 

All  the  information  gathered  by  the  Foreign  Division, 
whether  for  program  making  or  for  publicity  purposes,  will 
be  made  available  to  the  participating  agencies,  thus  using 
the  same  information-gathering  process  to  serve  the  needs  of 
all  the  participating  agencies. 

Duplication  will  also  be  avoided  by  the  preparation  of  the 
basic  maps  and  charts  necessary  for  illustrating  or  demon¬ 
strating  field  conditions  and  proposals  for  advance. 

IV.  Cooperation  desired  from  the  Missionary  Agencies 

The  success  of  the  efforts  of  the  Foreign  Survey  Division 
to  assist  the  missionary  agencies  connected  with  the  Inter¬ 
church  World  Movement  will  be  greatly  increased  by  the 
hearty  support  which  it  is  in  their  power  to  give  the  Division. 
Cooperation  is  desired  from  each  board  or  agency  at  the 
following  points: 

1.  The  designation  at  once  of  one  of  their  staff  to  whom 
all  inquiries  from  the  Foreign  Survey  office  may  be  sent  and 
who  will  be  constantly  in  active  association  with  the  work  of 
the  Division. 

2.  The  selection  of  men  at  home  or  on  the  fields  who  will 
be  helpful  in  supplying  information  needed  by  the  Survey. 

3.  Lists  of  missionaries,  of  mission  stations,  of  mission¬ 
ary  institutions  and  agencies.  (Some  boards  have  already 
supplied  this  information.) 

4.  Information  as  to  how  far  plans  for  the  expansion  of 
work  on  the  field  have  already  been  developed,  what  these 
plans  are,  and  the  early  coordination  of  these  plans  with  the 

program  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement. 


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5.  Making  accessible  to  the  Foreign  Survey  Division  such 
information  concerning  present  work  and  general  field  con¬ 
ditions  as  may  be  available  in  files,  records,  and  reports.  This 
will  be  arranged  on  the  basis  of  understanding  between  the 
Mission  Agencies  Branch  and  the  secretary  designated  by  the 
agency  concerned. 

6.  Such  use  of  the  maps  and  chart  making  facilities  of 
the  Division  as  will  make  the  presentation  of  facts  uniformly 
clear  and  accurate  for  all  the  agencies  participating. 

7.  The  complete  program  statement  on  the  basis  of  the 
suggested  form  to  be  prepared  by  the  Foreign  Survey  Division. 

8.  The  development  among  personnel  at  home  and  abroad 
of  a  spirit  of  friendly  cooperation  with  the  Foreign  Survey 
Division. 

Correspondence  with  participating  missionary  agencies 
on  each  of  these  items  will  be  inaugurated  in  due  time  by  the 
Mission  Agencies  Branch  of  the  Foreign  Survey  Division. 

In  the  meanwhile  inquiry  and  suggestion  by  the  mission¬ 
ary  agencies  is  earnestly  desired. 


No.  93  I.  2.  Aug.  1919. 


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